Al Zumach asks, Where was God before the Bible?

Before Bible times, what kind of relationship did God have with people?

Christianity preaches about a loving God who wants to have a personal relationship with everyone. Did God have that kind of relationship with our early human ancestors?

This doesn’t seem likely. Looking at early human history it seems like God left people to fend for themselves.

I pondered this question last century. A trip to Ireland this century, September 2008, revived my question.

Ireland’s long history has left many religious monuments – some thousands of years old – scattered across the country. Some early Christian beliefs and practices were naïve and crude. Earlier stone age beliefs and practices were even more naïve and crude. Where was God during all this time? Was he personal?

The first books of the Bible were written 2,500 years ago. Abraham lived 4,000 years ago. Human beings (people like you and me) evolved 200,000 years ago. Where was God during the 196,000 years from our human origins up to the time of Abraham?

Where was God before the Bible?

You and I could have lived during those 196,000 years. Our lives – our reasoning, emotional and spiritual lives – would have been difficult, “animal-like,” and short. What did humans do during these years to create a broken relationship with God? Would we have even known God? While trying to comprehend fire and storms, sun and seasons, birth and death, and every day satisfying our hunger and avoiding hungry animals, would we have any way of knowing this personal God who wants to have a relationship with us?